A boy, maybe four or five years old, is sitting with his parents in the Holiday Inn lobby where I work. The boy is screaming, throwing candy, toys, and in general causing a racket. While checking out the guest in-front of them I hear:

Boy: “I don’t want to go and you can’t make me!”

Dad: “You know what? Fine. We’ll leave you here. Come on, honey.”

So he makes a big spectacle of gathering his wife’s purse and bags. The boy looks extremely satisfied. So I decided to join in with the fun.

Me: “Oh, no! Don’t do that Sir!”

Boy: “Why?”

Me: “That’s what my parents did to me when I was your age! The hotel would let me stay in my room, so they put me to work at the hotel!”

Boy: “They wouldn’t do that!”

Me: “well, I was too young to work the front desk, so they had me crawl into that chimney and clean because it was so dusty.”

(I cast a glance toward the fireplace in the lobby)

Me: “You could probably fit in there.”

Any Skepticism on the boy’s face is long gone. He burst into tears and runs over and apologizes to his parents. His mom calms him down. as the family leaves, the dad hands me a 100 dollar bill and mouths “thank you” at me. I made a kid cry, And I got a huge tip!